A K-Drama Podcast

Tag Archives: korean drama

Once a year, our friends on Twitter come together under the #DecemberDramas hashtag to give their take on the dramas they watched that year. In 2018, we were blown away by how many of you participated, and it was great to laugh, cry and rage a little over the year’s dramas together. (Note: we weren’t able to include every single one because there were so many, so apologies to those left out—and thank you all so much for joining us!)

As usual it starts with a call to arms by Saya:

Are you guys ready to kick off #DecemberDramas tomorrow? We’re going to look back on 2018 & review what we’ve watched in 1-tweet drama reviews (+gif)! We’re also going to cheat when necessary. I hope we’ll see EVERYONE take part, old friends & new! (PS check out last year’s fun!) pic.twitter.com/KckxlnmsvK

In our last Long Yak of 2018, we cover a bunch of recently completed dramas, express our expectations of newly airing ones, and notice a strong theme of ableism in Korean dramas lately—if a male lead isn’t perfectly perfect in body and mind, he can’t be a hero.

This month we start off by discussing the sudden shut down of DramaFever, what this means for the international viewership, how and when the licensing wars started in the KDrama world, and how fans access dramas when official channels are unavailable.
We also talk about the Canadian sitcom, Kim’s Convenience, which totally counts as a KDrama in our hearts!

I adore Chae Soo-bin. I’ve loved her since she played the conflicted, beautiful back-stabbing frenemy to Jung Eun-ji in Sassy Go Go.

So, I was disheartened to sense a trend in the roles she was choosing. They were all tough cookies who could beat up goons and swear like a sailor, while looking like a barbie doll. If someone told me that that was Chae Soo-bin playing Chae Soo-bin, I’d believe it. She’s that effortless at it. But she’s clearly capable of so much more.

Which is why I was ridiculously happy to watch the first episode of Fox Bride Star/Where Stars Land. Chae Soo-bin’s character, Han Yeo-reum, was not just a generic loveable heroine insert, she had a personality.

A horrible, insecure, whiny, annoying one. But it was a full-fledged PERSONALITY! I disliked her will glee.

But…but…but you AREN’T DOING YOUR JOB WELL! You’re not even doing your job, going around glory hogging and acting like everyone else is trying to take advantage of you! Ugh, I’ve gone from disliking to hating her. #ChaeSooBin#WhereStarsLandpic.twitter.com/VD5483mSqc

She went around suspecting her superiors of discrimination and her colleagues of machiavellian intent, while neglecting her own job, then felt victimised when her failures were pointed out to her. The woman had issues and the show made sure we knew that they knew that she had issues by giving us a balanced, sensible perspective through her fair-minded boss and the hard-working colleague she’s partnered with.

And then two more episodes rolled by, and I began to notice another cue that the drama was insistently pushing at us. It consisted of lingering shots of Han Yeo-reum’s distressed face whenever she felt wronged, and angst-filled music whenever anyone gave her a reality check. The subtext was clear. This is a heroine we are to root for. Her feelings are hurt, and even though we know she’s at fault, we MUST feel sympathy for her.

Poor, misguided Han Yeo-reum, nothing ever goes right for you. Even your future love interest is calling you out on being a shallow, attention-seeking, whiner. Don’t worry, girl, we’ll make him apologise by the end of the episode.

That’s around the time I gave up on Han Yeo-reum. I realised from my previous drama watching experience that here was a heroine who was never going to get an independent developmental arc. At some point, she would have a transformative moment, and she’d instantly shed years of inferiority complex and pettiness and become the beacon of womanhood our heroes always deserve (in this case, the hardworking colleague-dude).

And it came around episode 5-6. Her history of irresponsibility in the workplace was rewritten as misunderstandings where she didn’t stand up for herself. Then, Han Yeo-reum got a nice little arc where she finally spoke up in her own defence. And just like that her personality transplant surgery was a success!

No, wait. I change my mind. A person DOES NOT change this drastically over the course of a single episode. Also they totally rewrote her previous negligence at work as some kind of misunderstanding! #WhereStarsLand#foxbridestar

It was very moving. I enjoyed the episode tremendously. And then promptly lost all remaining interest in Han Yeo-reum. The woman with a bad temperament was gone, only a little girl who missed her dad remained.

Her only purpose now is to connect her father’s legacy with the man she’s falling in love with, figure out how to make that man overcome his insecurities, and live happily ever after.

Hurray for easily digestible romantic pairings, and down with complex character exploration where a flawed, unlikeable woman might get to earn a happily ever after with the irritatingly good hero too.

A month ago, Saya, Anisa, and I sat in our respective bedrooms across three continents and connected over the net to watch the first episode of Full House together. The hour-long audio commentary below is what we recorded, and if you want to watch the episode with this episode playing in your ear, watch KBS’s official upload here to get the best synchronisation. (Our actual commentary starts from 2:45 and syncs with the opening scene of Full House after the intro.)

But if you just want the highlights of the commentary, then watch the video below:

Tell us in the comments if you enjoyed it. You can also get in touch with us on twitter @dramasoverflow.

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Meet Saya, Paroma, and Anisa.
Three friends and drama-heads who join in from different parts of the world to pour over the dramas they’re watching.
Follow their podcast on YouTube, iTunes, or through RSS.
You can also catch them on twitter @dramasoverflow.